A Dream of Japanese Lanterns
by Katajanmarja
Summary: K's 2005 Shinobu/Keitaro one-shot fic finally relaunched as a series. In an alternate reality, Naru gave her heart to Keitaro five years ago. The ways of the Hinata girls have separated. Now, paths are crossing again... Under somebody's watchful eye?
1. Prelude: Tonight Will Be All

WARNING: This fanfic is going to include some crazy postmodern Mary-Suing. I would like to call that style Kaolla-Suing.

* * *

**Introduction**

An alternate universe.

Since the incident at Wakkanai (Love Hina manga volume XII), Keitaro and Naru were actually college sweethearts. However strong their friendship with the other girls was, they began to gradually grow apart from them -- except for Mutsumi, their cheerful and supportive study buddy.

It was Mutsumi who found a nice and cheap little apartment for them, too. After a good deal of thought Keitaro and Naru decided to leave the Hinata House behind and move together. The privacy they found proved to be quite favorable for the progress of their relationship. They were very serious about getting married after graduating.

Nearly five years have passed since Naru's final confession. The members of the Hinata gang have gone on to live their own lives and pursue their own goals. Kaolla Su has returned to her home country, Noriyasu Seta continues spending most of his time working abroad. Haruka Urashima is on good terms with him, but has decided to stay at her café in Hinata.

After Grandma Hinata's death, the Hinata House was let to a young couple who brought the inn back to life and are doing pretty well with it. They are now good friends with both Haruka and Keitaro, the official owner.

All so nice and dandy, isn't it?

And once the things are coming along fine, what options are there left for a writer? Little more than to make up some trouble for everybody, I guess.

* * *

**Prelude: Tonight Will Be All We Have Left to Recall**

"Naru?"

No answer.

"Naru, are you there? May I come in?"

The lights were out. As Keitaro entered the room, he found her lying on the bed, her face to the wall. He did not press the switch, but left the door open so he could see something.

"Come here, Kei," Naru said in a smothered voice, staying motionless.

Keitaro stood for a moment, confused, then walked over to the double bed and sat down, half facing her.

"I'm sorry for the things I said. I really didn't mean to be rude, but it just somehow went out of hand," he apologized. His voice trembled.

"I'm very sorry too," Naru answered. "Sorry for so much I've said and done."

Keitaro heard a loud sniffle.

"Are... Are you still crying?"

"OF COURSE I'M CRYING, YOU IDIOT!"

Keitaro jumped with fear, his brain automatically counting the most probable courses of Naru's upper body and fist.

No movement. She was staying all still, sobbing quietly.

_I've got to say it now_, Keitaro thought to himself, clenching his fist. _There's no point putting it off any more._

It was silent for some minutes, probably. Time seemed to have lost its significance. It hurt so badly inside, every five seconds felt like an eternity.

_I guess Naru's feeling none better than me_, Keitaro thought. _Why are there no eternities of happiness to balance moments like this?_

"Naru..."

"Y-yes?"

Keitaro lost control for a while. It was as if his nerves no more registered any information from outside his own body. He could feel only the inside, which was a storm of trembles and sobs.

As he recovered full consciousness, Naru was holding his head tenderly on her lap, smoothly caressing his hair. Tears were flowing from her eyes. He could feel them dropping on his burning cheeks.

"Naru..."

"I... I know what you're going to say. Just go ahead. You must do it," she answered.

Naru closed her eyes, sniffed, and continued, "I'm not strong enough. It's you who must say it aloud."

Keitaro sat up and tried to breathe deep. He was not able to look at her.

He took the final step.

"This cannot go on. It's all over now. Th-this is not love. Mutual dependence is what they call this."

"Those 'they' are damn right."

_Iron punch_, Keitaro thought, closing his eyes and tightening his body. _Feels like flying... Flying..._ It was so dark. He was seeing tiny, colored bursts of sparkles. _My life seems so unreal. This is like a badly written scene in which I must play._

*****

"Are you listening to me at all, you idiot?" (Sniffle.)

That was Naru's voice. Most definitely.

"Wha?!"

"I'm talking to you, silly."

True it was. They were still sitting there, on the sheets. Naru was not enraged. In fact, she did not even look angry. Her expression showed a mixture of sadness, determination, and affection. He tried to answer her but did not not find the words.

"I want to have you now, Keitaro. For this one last time!"

*****

Afterwards, neither of them could have told how many times their sighs and moans had been carrying the words, "I love you!"

But both of them knew they would never ever forget that night.


	2. I: The Eightball Chick

**Chapter 1: The Eightball Chick**

"Come on, Keitaro! Why you bein' so coy?"

"Um, er!"

_He looks so damn comical when he's embarrassed. And it's double fun 'cause the others ain't around. My, what a great party! Now where's the sake?_

Kitsune took a gulp, then wrapped her arm around Keitaro's neck and passed him some paper napkins to stop the flow of blood out of his nose. She was very aware of the fact that he could see some laces of her silvery-shining bra as she bent to him.

"You nasty little boy! I doubt you've ever stopped dreaming about touching my breast again with my approval."

"I, um, Kitsune, you've got it all wrong! It's not like that!"

"My, my! Now just be quiet for a while. Don't you strain yourself so your nose bleed will be over sooner. Take my hand and follow me -- I'm going to show you the gates of Eden."

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

Kitsune glanced at Keitaro, closed her eyes and blushed like a teenage girl. Then she looked away from him, grinning victoriously. _I love picking him up like this! And you never know, this time we might end up having a really good time._

She was leading him away from the people. He followed. But something was not right. There was trouble Kitsune had not expected at all.

"Uh, s-sorry Keitaro! You must wait a sec 'cause I'm... I'm going to... MMMPH!"

*****

Kitsune jumped up, quickly bent over the bedside and threw up on the floor. She felt the whole room spinning around her.

_For gods' sake, where am I?! Oh. Home. Damnation. It looks like I gonna have to clean up the mess myself._

She sat for a while calming down. Then she got up and headed for the bathroom.

_Well, well. Now that did feel real_, she thought while rinsing her mouth. _Funny, it's been ages since I dreamed about Keitaro or the Hinata gang. And come to think of it, when did I see any of them last? Oh, it was when I ran into Mutsumi. Literally. And that was a year ago._

Kitsune did not want to look in the mirror. Deep inside she knew that the amounts of liquor she consumed were slowly leaving their marks on her face. But it was so easy to forget about that as she could feel all men's eyes on her in the parties. She was still young. And she had that special charm of a person who is not in the least ashamed of living a mile a minute. A gift that could not be taken away from her.

Yet something was definitely changing. She had heard talk about hangovers getting worse by the age, but had never thought it might concern herself in any way. But she had to admit that feeling **this** sick in the morning was something new.

She had to sit down again, gasping for air. Some cold beer would come in handy.

Kitsune checked the fridge. A half-empty bottle of Kikkoman and some spots of dirt, nothing else.

In her wallet she found thirty yens. _Wow. Last night's party must have been a good one. What a pity I don't remember anything._

The feeling of sickness was growing stronger again.

_This calls for emergency action. Time to carry out my secret plan!_

Kitsune stood up on a chair and started surveying the top shelf of the cleaning cupboard. Books. A mass of old books she had not needed for ages, many of them from the time she went to middle school. But there was a reason she had kept them.

Exercises on physics. Thriller paperbacks. An English reader for beginners. She flung the volumes all over the floor. Dizziness took over, she stopped for a while and leant against the wall for a moment, panting. _Oxygen!_

The next obstacle was a large, heavy carton -- full of old books, indeed. Kitsune felt like vomiting again. No. So close. She tried to reach over the carton, but it was too high. She started dragging it down, inch by inch.

The chair tilted over. Rumble.

_Ow ow ow._ The carton had split as it crashed into the floor. Kitsune found herself sitting in the middle of dangling books. It hurt, but she had made it. All she had to do was to climb back and...

Yes. Two untouched bottles of beer. A multinational American brand she did not like so much, but this had all been carefully planned when she moved in a year and a half ago.

_My precious_, Kitsune thought as she opened the first bottle by the kitchen sink. The relief was more psychological than physical, but real it was. _Heh. A person who is able to store booze at home for months can't be called an alcoholic. I ain't lost the grip._

As Kitsune was gradually feeling better, she started to register more of the things surrounding her. _Hmph. I'll do the dishes later._

When she had cleaned up the floor in front of the bed, she noticed an odd, rumpled piece of paper on the dining table, apart from last week's empty sake bottles.

"Su-u," it said in a foreigner's careless katakana. The name was followed by a mobile phone number. _What the heck? How on Earth has this note ended up here?_

*****

An hour later they were sitting in a little café. Kitsune stared at her old friend, still confused by the surprise.

Kaolla looked absolutely gorgeous. Her eyes still radiated that restlessness and childish enthusiasm, which very charmingly contradicted her otherwise serene smile and grown-up face. Her way of moving had somehow become a lot smoother over the years, yet her body seemed to be in constant motion, whether it was her fingers touching the glass on the table or her head turning around as she observed the surroundings. On top of if all, she was wearing a plentifully decorated Molmol national dress.

"...So when I getted to know that next International Conference on Information Technology and the Developing Countries is in Tokyo, I registered right away. I thinked it great to see all old places and meet you guys after years. Unfortunate, I have not reached every one. Apparently Motoko's somewhere countryside, difficult to reach her. Keitaro's abroad. No information about Naru's recent address. Seta I met, then Haruka, Shinobu, and Mutsumi."

_Hmm. Her Japanese may be a bit rusty, but she's regaining it fast._ Kitsune smiled.

"And then I was so happy to meet **you** yesterday evening!" Kaolla went on. Kitsune's coffee went down the wrong way.

"What's the matter, Kitsune?"

"**Cough!** Nothing, nothing at all! Just go on, please! (Cough!) Why don't you tell me how you felt about yesterday?"

_What an idiot I am_, Kitsune thought. _That conference was the very reason why I was on the move. I wonder if my notes are safe at home. Mr. Ohira's gonna kill me if he doesn't get my report in time. Worse yet, what am I gonna eat if I don't get the money?_

"Well, I found the last plenary session a little boring. I couldn't keep myself from thinking what I'll do when I get to test the new hardware I bought these days. True, most of the money I had with me I spent on a pile of new cheap'n'durable laptops. They gonna be delivered to schools, cultural institutions and NGO's in my home country as part of a development program... Oh, but the evening party was quite nice, and after we noticed each other it got great. You have such good ideas how to have real good time."

"I'm happy to hear your compliment," Kitsune said in a half-sarcastic voice. _Poor hosts_, she thought.

"Japanese folks look so very funny when they are embarrassed! And I hadn't had a good swing on electrolier for looong time!" Kaolla gave a most captivating smile, looking happier than ever.

_My good God. I hope the guys from TV were not there._

Kaolla went on, "When you seemed be getting tired, I decided head to the hotel. First I got a taxi for you though. It was so crazy when we tried to make you tell your home address together with driver. I was just laughing all the time!"

Kitsune grinned. _It must have been a great party indeed._ "So that's when you gave me your phone number, too," she said. "To tell the truth, I'd forgot about that piece of paper by morning."

"Kya ha ha! You were blind drunk, weren't you?" Kaolla winked.

"Look who's talking. Listen Su, I haven't heard too much about the others lately. What do you mean, Keitaro's abroad and Naru's disappeared?"

"Well, it seem that they breaken up. Heh, I always knew Keitaro should have forget about Naru and marry me!" Kaolla went on, grinning as if there was nothing special about the gossip.

"**What?!**"

"They ain't together anymore. You should know they both have this habit to disappear when something's gone wrong. So sorry I must return home. Would've been great fun to travel around the Pacific on a quest to find 'em one time again. Or maybe now Naru's having a coast-to-coast tour of Eurasia for real..."

"Oh, you have to be leaving soon?" Kitsune asked absentmindedly, still confused by the shocking news.

"Rilly, so sorry. My plane's leaving in a couple of hours."

"We're quite far from the airport. Are you sure you're not gonna be late?"

"Oh, Seta promised to take me there. He helps me with the luggage too. He's always so friendly! In fact he should be here any minute."

"**What?!**" Kitsune cried out again, this time genuinely scared. She glanced out of the window, saw the approaching nose of Seta's van just a few meters away, and dove away from the table at lightning speed.

_I hope Su made it alive too_, she thought while protecting her head against the flying debris. _I just can't believe she was stupid enough to pick up a table facing the street!_


	3. II: A Dream of Japanese Lanterns

**Chapter 2: A Dream of Japanese Lanterns**

"Um... Sempai..."

As Keitaro heard Shinobu's frail voice, he turned around, still grabbing the terrace railing with his right hand, and smiled at her.

"Hi, Shinobu. You still call me that? I'm glad you could come."

Shinobu could not say a word. The evening sky behind Sempai was so beautiful, this moment so exceptionally peaceful. There was no one around, the only sound they could hear was the neverending hum of the city around, filtered by the trees surrounding the Hinata House. It was all so romantic, and yet it did not quite feel like her dreams from the past. So many things had changed over these years. Perhaps, too many?

She glanced at Sempai again. He looked kind of embarrassed, as if trying to say something that did not want to come out.

"Shinobu, dear... Would you care to give me a hug?"

"Who, me? Now? Why? I mean, oh yes! Er..."

Keitaro wrapped his arms gently around her. Everything happened slowly as in a dream. However confused and excited Shinobu herself was, she could feel Sempai's body shivering, his heart pounding hard. But the embrace was not that of long-lost lovers. It felt more like two children comforting each other in the darkness of a scary woodland. They stayed so for a long while, then suddenly startled and withdrew.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Shinobu", Keitaro said, with a touch of tears in his eyes.

He looked down, then again straight into her eyes.

"And please don't run away from me now," he begged, anticipating what Shinobu already had in mind. "Please don't. Shinobu... I need you."

_S-Sempai says he __**needs**__ me?!_ Shinobu thought to herself. _Oh no, it can't be, this must be a misunderstanding. Everything that ever gave me hope in my whole life was no more than a series of sad misunderstandings!_

Yet, she stayed and finally forced herself to speak, her eyes full of hesitation.

"So, um, what about Naru? Is it really true?"

Keitaro sighed.

"Oh yes, it is. We've been living separately for seven months now. All that's left of our relationship is memories."

"I... I would like to do anything I can to cheer you up. I'm so terribly sorry for both of you."

Her words were honest. Maybe she had been jealous all the way along, but nevertheless she had deeply respected both Narusegawa-Sempai and Urashima-Sempai. She had wanted to believe in their happiness.

"Well, Shinobu, I'm not sure at all that us spending time together this soon is a good idea. People say that one should take some time for oneself after things like this. But when I ran into you, I felt I can't just let it be. I simply had to see you again. Hm... Maybe I'm a weakling after all, just like Motoko used to say."

Shinobu took her courage in both hands and answered. She was embarrassed by the fact that she was speaking all too fast to sound serious, but she knew that if she stopped to think she might not be able to go on any more.

"It's not your fault, Sempai. You know I... I had a crush on you since I was thirteen. And when you and Naru-Sempai finally got together, my daydreams just wouldn't fade away. In the beginning, I only allowed myself to play with some what-ifs every now and then, imagining things like what could have followed if Narusegawa had got along with Mr. Noriyasu... But..."

Shinobu felt like she was choking. _What the heck have I done?_ she thought. _I can't believe I actually wanted to meet Sempai so I could make confessions to him! Oh no, it'd be better to die than commit anything like this!_

At that moment, she felt him touching her fingers.

Sempai looked tired and blue, and yet she felt so secure standing next to him. What should she do?

"Shinobu, it's all right. I don't want to force you to talk, but let me say one thing: had I not been so afraid of telling and hearing truths, my life would have been a lot easier in the long run. You can trust me... Though maybe I'm not the right person to say that myself."

Shinobu kept silent for several minutes, gulping, her heart beating wildly. Tears came to her eyes.

"Sempai, I'm so sorry. I'm an evil being. I hate myself," she gasped out.

"Please don't. I've hated myself a lot and it's never taken me anywhere", Keitaro answered with a concerned face. "And you know what, Shinobu? You're way too sweet to waste any more of your life hating yourself..." He cracked an encouraging smile, or at least one that was meant to be that.

"But, Sempai, the truth is that I -- I used to dream about being your lover! It was so wrong, but I couldn't help it! I imagined you cheating on Narusegawa with me! I had such wicked thoughts even when I was together with Morio..."

Shinobu started crying aloud but continued, "I-I can't believe I just told that to you. But, but I'm so in love with you! (Sob!) I admire you more than I could ever admire anybody in the whole world! And I s- (sob!) I swear I never meant to hurt either you or Naru-Sempai!"

Keitaro would have liked to embrace her again, caress her, comfort her. But Shinobu could not handle the situation any more. She panicked, feeling that the quiet house had turned into a hideous monster that tried tear her to pieces and swallow her soul. She started rushing away, with just one thought in her mind: _Run, Shinobu, run and hide!_

Keitaro instinctively dashed after her, like he had done so many times before on so many different occasions. He reached her, he tripped, he grabbed whatever he could not to hit his face against the wooden floor --

Shinobu felt her brand new stretch skirt sliding down and getting stuck around her ankles --

*****

When Keitaro opened his eyes, the first thing he saw right in front of him was Shinobu's butt.

_Whoa, she's definitely grown into a womanly young lady. And those cute panties really become her... Oh no, no, no! What am I thinking? I've just completely botched everything! What a horrible déjà vu!_ he thought. He was ready to receive the first hit from whichever direction and helplessly watch Shinobu run away, weeping.

But the good old days were long gone. There was no Motoko around swinging her deadly blade; no grinning Kaolla landing one of her dread flying kicks on Keitaro's face; no Naru screaming, "You pervert!"; not even an always-ready-to-tease Kitsune making her nasty assumptions.

Shinobu sat up and raised her eyes, very, very slowly. Keitaro felt the panic inside growing.

She looked at him with her head inclined, then bursted out laughing.

_This is bad_, Keitaro thought, _she's gone nuts and it's all my fault. My God, should I call an ambulance or what?_

"Oh Sempai, I must admit I had forgotten some things about you. Narusegawa must have been right, although I never fully realized it. Sometimes you **are** such a **total** klutz!"

Keitaro just gaped at her, not believing his eyes and ears.

"I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to..."

"Of course you didn't", Shinobu answered, still giggling. "Please, Sempai, don't you worry about that. You being clumsy doesn't make you a bit less cute."

"Err, how nice to hear that from you, I mean, um..."

"But regardless, how about you let go your grip on my skirt?"

"Wha? Um, oops! Of course!"

*****

The sky had darkened. They both stood leaning on the railing, gazing into the distance. A slight warm breeze gently streamed their hairs. Keitaro felt as if it was easier to breathe now. Was it just the weather?

"Shinobu, do you remember how you brought me up here for the very first time to show me your 'special place' on the rooftop?"

"How could I ever forget that, Sempai?"

He glanced at her.

"Er. Could you please call me just Keitaro?"

"Oh! Well, if you really ask me to, Sempai. I mean..."

"I have so many nice memories of us spending time together. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong time and place. Just imagine us having been classmates from the very beginning. It could have been a lot less lonely life."

"Semp-, um, Keitaro, I attended a girls' school."

"Oh? Mm, oh yes! I'm sorry," he answered, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Keitaro, do you remember how we sometimes cooked together at your aunt's beach café in Hinoshima?"

"Oh, yeah! Rarely did I have such a good time during my ronin years!" he smiled away and went on with enthusiasm, "But of course, back then I didn't appreciate it enough. I only thought about being able to study together with Naru. Had I been a bit more grown-up, maybe I'd given up my obsession about Tokyo U. We could have been a nice couple running a restaurant together or something... You were such a magnificent cook already then, and my chocolate specialties could have been a hit..."

Keitaro realized what he was babbling. Shinobu was looking at him closely, not able to decide whether she should make an admiring or an unbelieving face.

"Oh, sorry, sorry. I should not be building castles in the air. You were just a middle-schooler back then, and..."

Shinobu seemed amused, yet he could see a coy glow on her cheeks.

"Don't worry about it, Semp-, Keitaro. Nice to notice I'm not always the only one."

Keitaro sighed once again.

"Shinobu... From the very beginning, you were the only one who was never mean to me."

"Oh. Thank you. Um, but what about Otohime?"

"Mutsumi? Well. She came around later, I bet you remember. She was another very nice person, who made me believe that not everyone in the world just wants to make fun of me. She's been one of the greatest friends I've ever had..."

Now it was Keitaro who blushed a bit.

"...And, well, it'd be unfair to deny that she was a wonderful lover, too. In her own way."

Keitaro had been watching the nightly sky. Suddenly he realized that something had changed about Shinobu.

She stared at him with her mouth wide open.

"Sempai, are you telling me you have, urr, **known** Mutsumi, too?!"

"Oh no, oh... Oh my!" Keitaro moaned, not realizing who he was citing. "I didn't mean to upset you! I took it for sure that everybody knew already."

_Oh crap_, he thought to himself, _I knew sooner or later I'd hurt her real bad._

Shinobu did not move this time, but he could feel her running away from him in her heart.

"Please, Shinobu, let me explain to you my feelings for Mutsumi. I don't know if it'll do any good, but at least give me a chance!" Keitaro begged in a resigned voice.

Shinobu felt her heart aching, but at the same time she thought, _Well, might be my naughty dreams don't make me into such a horrible person in Sempai's eyes, if he has had... __**affairs**__ himself, as it seems._

"Look, I... I had a relationship with her in the Spring, after I'd moved away from Naru," Keitaro said, watching at the floor. "I guess it shouldn't have happened, but well, it did, and I cannot change that. There's no denying that I and Mutsumi have always enjoyed each other's company, and we were both very lonely then. But..."

"But what, Keitaro? Why on earth are you not together any more, then?! I always knew you and Mutsumi would be perfect matches... Even though I felt it was Narusegawa with whom you'd eventually end up."

"Oh, Shinobu. It's so difficult to explain. No doubt Mutsumi is a very nice girl, but you know, she's more than weird. As long as we were just friends, it rarely bothered me. At times, it was even quite charming. But when I got closer to her... Believe me or not, it got kinda spooky. I thought I'd get to understand her secrets little by little. I was wrong."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Shinobu's voice cracked.

Keitaro scratched his ear.

"It's those little things about her... I mean, like, how she seems to speak with Tama-chan as if she actually understood 'turtlese'. How she never concentrates on stuff like studying and still gets all her answers correct. How she's always nice and friendly, but you never really know what she means by that. **She won't talk about those things with anyone**. I finally got the feeling that she's not from Okinawa but from Alpha Centauri. I... I couldn't take that. I mean, if somebody's going to be my life mate, I want to know her for real, to feel she's truly close to me... What's more, sure it would be nice to be able to count on her too."

_No doubt there were parallels between my relationship with Mutsumi and aunt Haruka's one with Seta_, Keitaro thought to himself.

He and Shinobu fell silent for a long while.

"So I did have an affair with Mutsumi, but I and she will not be anything more than friends any more," he said.

"And what about us?" Shinobu asked. "I have been in love with you through all these years. B-but right now I don't know what I should do about that."

"I think we shouldn't do anything about it yet. I do like you a lot, but I'm in no hurry to make the same mistakes over and over again. Especially not with somebody as young as you are. Maybe you had better think it well over? Right now I have the feeling that I've ruined a good deal of my life in vain. Are you sure there wouldn't be a better choice for you somewhere out there?" Keitaro asked with a melancholic smile.

"Semp-, Keitaro, are you trying to say that you don't want to see me any more?" Shinobu sobbed, only just keeping herself from crying again.

"Oh, Shinobu, I would never say anything like that! At any rate, I would like you to be my friend. And..." Keitaro blushed again, "I could imagine more between us indeed. It's just that I guess we should take it real nice and slow, if something like that's going to happen."

"Oh," Shinobu said quietly, "maybe I understand."

"Um. Are you ready to hear one more uncomfortable truth?"

Shinobu gulped and whispered, "I guess so."

"You know, however nice our relationship was at its best, it wasn't too easy communicating with Naru. She never got totally rid of her habit of punching or kicking me whenever she felt embarrassed about something that either I had done or she happened to feel. But... It might hurt me even more if the person who's really important to me runs away at the sight of trouble."

Keitaro had to make a short pause before he was able to continue.

"Shinobu... You're one of the sweetest young women I've ever met in my life, and without a doubt the most down-to-earth one among them. I need you, either as a friend or as something more than that. And being so, I want us to get to know each other better. I don't wanna be a mere daydream. If you're going to spend a lot of time with me, you're bound to end up in many embarrassing situations. I am what I am, seems nothing can change that. Shinobu, are you ready to be brave? To face it all instead of running? If so, I'll do my best to help and support you in whichever way you ask me to."

Shinobu looked in his eyes, then took a breath.

"I guess you have a point. I'm not a child any more, after all," she said as determinedly as she could. "But please understand, it won't be easy for me."

"I will, Shinobu."

He touched her hand.

*****

It was quite late already, but the night was warm. Neither of them wanted to leave yet. They had been watching the shining stars for a good while, not saying a word.

"Now in Vienna there's ten pretty women/There's a shoulder where death comes to cry..." Keitaro whispered, half singing.

"What's that all about?"

"Heh, nothing really, just a fragment from 'Take This Waltz'. One of my friends abroad was a big fan of Leonard Cohen. When grandma... departed, those lines came to my mind. It may sound silly, but all of a sudden I saw Death as a lonely old man whom nobody loves. After all, he's got a job that doesn't make one popular. I thought of him coming for grandma, and then I saw you as the brave little angel who would comfort even Death in his solitude."

Shinobu smiled, but did not answer.

"You know," Keitaro continued, "I cannot say that I've had a happy life. And still, at moments like this, when there's peace and serenity all around... I just believe in the future. I just believe!"

Shinobu did not think about the future. She was just here and now, and she felt good. And somehow... stronger than ever before.

Shinobu Maehara, the young woman who had once been the shy little princess of the Hinata House, took Keitaro's cheeks firmly in her hands, closed her eyes and kissed him right on his mouth.


	4. Ego Trippin’, Part 1

**Ego Trippin', Part 1**

Traffic down in the street, every waking hour. The sounds did not really disturb me, but I couldn't get quite used to them either. Occasionally it happened that I was lying on my bed awake in the most silent hours of the night, and only then could I hear the buzz of my own ears. _You've come a long way, baby_, I thought to myself. _So many people get stuck in the capital, and now you're one of them._

Just me and my old laptop, and another late evening. _A perfect moment for some sounds of the twilight. The Quest knew how to do it._ I closed my eyes and let the bass line flow through my head.

"Phife, Jarobi, Ali told me/Get the Force like Wan Kenobi."

_Eh-heh, that one gives me another idea. Let's see if I can get it rollin'._ I grinned mischievously and started typing again.


End file.
